Good morning. My wife, Adrienne, and I are very pleased and excited that we have the opportunity to be with you this month to fellowship and to worship. Now, since this first sermon and Second Samuel, we are jumping right into the middle of the action of the book. I feel it might benefit us a little bit just for a brief overview of what's taken place up until this point. The book of Second Samuel opens where the book of First Samuel closes with the death of Saul and three of his sons in battle against the Philistines. And when David hears of this death, he laments greatly for the loss. And of course, if you remember back in First Samuel 16, the prophet Samuel had anointed David to be king over Israel. And yet for all this time that that hadn't been fulfilled, because Saul was still king. But now it's always dead. The throne was empty. And immediately the the men of the tribe of Judah, they anoint and recognize David to be their king. But at the same time, Abner, who had been Saul's general, sets Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, as king over Israel. And the rest of the tribes are following Ishbosheth. under the guidance of Abner. But earlier in chapter three of Second Samuel, there's a bit of a falling out between Abner and Ish-bosheth over an argument revolving around one of Saul's concubines. And in his anger, Abner swears that he's going to help establish David as the king of Israel instead of Ish-bosheth. And it's at this point then that we we come to in Second Samuel Chapter three, verses 12 through 16. So now here, God's word, the second Samuel. Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, whose land is it? Make an agreement with me and I will help you bring all Israel over to you. Good, said David, I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you. Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michael, daughter of Saul, when you come to see me." Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, son of Saul, demanding, give me my wife, Michael, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins. So Ish-bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband, Paltiel, son of Laish. Her husband, however, went with her weeping behind her all the way to Bahrain. Then Abner said to him, go back home. So he went back. And here ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray. Almighty Lord God, we do thank you for forgiving us your holy, inspired word. And Lord, we pray that you would grant that your Holy Spirit would illuminate these passages to our understanding. She might open our ears and soften our hearts that we might treasure these words and then we might do so to your glory. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. The king has paid a price for his bride and he will be satisfied. He must be satisfied. Because he's the king. I'm no king. And I'll tell you something that leaves me very unsatisfied. Fast food. Now, you've been there as well, I'm sure. When you walk up to the counter and you see this picture of a perfectly constructed, mouth-watering, work-of-art hamburger displayed up there on the menu, and that's what you order, and you hand your money over to the cashier, And you eagerly await to receive this succulent sandwich until the moment that they just flop down this small, smushed, completely unappealing wrapped hamburger. And you look at it with disappointment. You think, well, this isn't what I want. This isn't what I paid for. You look back at the menu and say, well, that's that's what I ordered. That's what I want. But what can you do about it? You're in no position of authority to really demand anything better than what you got. And even if you tried to voice a complaint, you'd probably just receive a blank stare from the cashier. And maybe he'd say, dude, what'd you expect? This is fast food. And so you settle. And we've become so accustomed to settling Selling for less than we desire. But even the very promises of God sometimes seem to us like fast food. They sound great and wonderful in their presentation. But the reality of what we get, rather what we perceive that we get seems to be less than satisfying. But in this morning's text, we see King David Making a demand for nothing more than what he's paid for and what is rightly his. But in the larger scope of things, we'll see how your King Jesus receives nothing less than what he is paid for. And in this truth, there's great hope, there's great comfort. And there is satisfaction. So as we turn to this text in 2 Samuel 3, Verse 12, we first see that your desires become your priorities. Abner sends messengers to King David, approaching him to make a covenant of peace, because Abner, for one, he desired power and prominence. And also he wanted to get back at Ishvosheth. And so his desire became his priority in approaching David with this covenant. But David had a different desire. David desired his bride. You remember, in verse 13, David's response is good. I will make an agreement with you, but I demand one thing. Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michael, daughter of Saul, when you come to see me. Think about it. First off, Abner comes with the covenant, presenting the agreement. And yet all of a sudden, David is the one calling the shots. And as king, he has the right to demand anything that he wants. He could have requested anything, but he demands his bride. And we see in the way in which the thing you desire the most becomes your priority and controls your actions for better or for worse. I mean, we see this in daily life, sometimes in a noble way. We think of mothers who spend lots of money and time and lengthy custody battles because they want to be the mother of their child. Sometimes it's rather foolish. The way men will risk life and limb to climb some Himalayan mountain peak just to meet some yogi who he thinks has the secrets of life. And sometimes it's desperate. If you've read Shakespeare's account of Richard III and the finale of the play as Richard is lying wounded on the battlefield, he says, a horse, my kingdom for a horse. Out of desperation, he's willing to give everything for the one thing he desires at that moment. And your desires control your actions, and so you have to wonder, what is it that you desire more than anything? The psalmist tells us in Psalm 37, for to delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. And so are your desires for the things of God, for his glory and for his kingdom? Are they for your own interests? David's desire. Maybe it could be seen as being a personal interest. And that he wanted his bride back, but there's there's a little more going on here. And there was several reasons why he would demand that Michael be given back to him. First, she was his wife. doesn't really require any explanation. She was his bride, and he wanted her back. But she had been taken from him. Back in 1 Samuel, chapter 25, as David is in the wilderness, constantly on the move from Saul. During the midst of that, Saul had taken Michael, who had been David's wife, and given her to this man, Paltiel, the son of Laish. So she had been taken from David and David as king for his bride to be taken and to be in the possession of anyone else is an affront and an attack on David's reputation as king. It's a slight on the whole nation of Israel because the king acts as a representative of the people and for any other nation to look at Israel and say, well, your king doesn't even have his own wife anymore. It was bad for David's image and for the people as a whole. But thirdly, you should remember, he paid quite a price for Michael. And in that, we see that you value what you pay for. And verse 14, this is the demand that David sends to Ishkosheth. Give me my wife, Michael, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of 100 Philistine foreskins. It's really kind of a strange dowry or not a strange price to be paid for the right to marry Michael. I mean, I'm certainly thankful that all Adrian's parents requested of me was was my word that I would do the best that I could to to lead her in a godly way. And while that in itself is quite a responsibility, I'll choose that over 100 Philistine fourskins any day. But you might remember, in 1 Samuel 18, David didn't pay 100 Philistine foreskins. He presented Saul with 200 Philistine foreskins. And with this strange but great payment, David had a vested interest in the woman whom he had paid quite a price for. And we understand this, this idea of having a vested interest and the things that you pay for. I mean, this is why concert halls sell advanced tickets, because they know that if someone has laid money down ahead of time, they're more likely to show up on the evening of the performance. And they can't just expect people that have no vested interest in attending to be there. And David had a very strong vested interest in Michael. Because Saul had asked for 100 foreskins of the Philistines. Now, you can let your imagination wander into what this would have looked like, but it's not pretty and certainly not easy. In fact, we're told in 1 Samuel 18, 25, that the reason Saul asked this of David is because it was an impossible task. And he was certain that David would be killed trying to get four skins of 100 Philistines. And this way he could get rid of David. But yet David, the Lord's anointed one. Not only fulfills what Saul asked of him, but he goes above and beyond and slays 200 Philistines. But yet he doesn't mention this. And his demand for Michael, he only goes to the to the 100. Because what David's saying here is not I earned something because I did so much extra. He's saying we had an agreement. I met the requirement of 100 Philistine foreskins. Therefore, give me the bride that I paid the price that was required of her. But rather, the excess really points to the strength of David's desire. And this this idea of going the extra mile, which has become a rather commonplace term, despite the fact that it comes from Christ's own words in Matthew five, when he tells us that if someone forces us to walk one mile with him, we'll go to. And really, even this points to the zeal of Christ and the work that he had to do. So told that before the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. David could look beyond the seemingly impossible task of slaying 100 or 200 Philistines, looking ahead to the reward that came with the task. And so David had a great value base for Michael, based on what he had paid for. But unfortunately, sadly for us, even though David was demanding that he receives what was his and what he wanted. Well, you don't always get what you want, do you? I mean, the logical outworking of this situation in 1 Samuel 3 is that for David to receive his bride back, means Paltiel lost his wife. And what does he do in verse 16, which says, her husband went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahram. And sometimes we're Paltiel. Really, all we can do is just cry. as we watch the things we desire pass by before our eyes. And we know nothing else from this passage about the quality of the relationship between Paul Thiel and Michael. Certainly, by his response, he obviously had real affection for her. We can't tell whether those feelings were returned by Michael. But there's a hard lesson to be learned in that, by learning to be content with the Lord's providence. We don't know what Paltiel's relationship to the Lord was, if he was a true believing member of Israel. But either way, and while he didn't have the words of the epistle to the Romans at this time, I doubt that as he stood there, tears flowing down his face, watching Michael disappear in the distance. At that moment, he probably wouldn't have been very comforted knowing that God works all things to the good of those who love him. Because it's a hard lesson to learn when we fall upon hard providence. And knowing that that is the truth and relying and trusting upon the Lord even in the hard times, and believing that he is sincere in the way he takes care of his children. But as it stands in this case, Paltiel was not the king. The king had preeminence. The king got what he wanted because the king was to receive what he paid for. And when the king has paid a price, By virtue of the fact that He is the King, He will be satisfied. Because even though we don't always get the things that we want, know that your King, King Jesus, gets exactly what He wants and what He has paid for. Because, brothers and sisters, Christ Himself has demanded a bride and has paid a price for His bride. And you, as the church, you are that bride that Christ has paid a price for. Turn with me to the book of Titus, chapter 2. In Titus 2, starting in verse 13, We're told that we wait for our blessed hope, which is the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Christ. Gave himself the price that he paid was himself, was his life, in order that he would purchase a people for his own possession. And the price that Christ paid was far more than one or two hundred Philistine foreskins. It was his precious and redeeming blood, which covers and atones for sins, was the price with which he has purchased you. And so, brothers and sisters, you have a great value. It is not one which is within yourself, though. Because what I'm not suggesting is that we have an increase in self-esteem. In fact, I think we have too much self-esteem anymore. It would do a lot of us good to be knocked down a bit, to realize that any goodness, any value that we have is not inherent to ourself. But brothers and sisters, as Christians, the value you have rests solely on the goodness of Christ and in his work and in the high price which he paid for you. Now, some of the younger kids here, they may collect baseball cards or well, maybe not baseball cards here, but football cards. Maybe some of the older kids collect these as well. And I used to collect baseball cards. And one day I was very excited to find that my dad had in his collection a 1980 Ricky Henderson rookie card. And this was a big deal because that month in the price guide, this card was now worth $100. Even today, that's still a fair amount of change. But when you're 10 years old, I mean, $100, that's enough to set you for life. I was so excited that I had a one hundred dollar card in my hand. What my father told me is that that card is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay you for it. By which he meant that as long as I have that card in my hands, well, I didn't have one hundred dollars. And if I tried to sell it to someone. But they would only give me fifty dollars for the card. Well, it wasn't worth one hundred dollars, was it? The value would only come from the price paid for it. And it didn't matter what the price guide said if the price wasn't being paid for that card. In the same way, the value which you have as precious children of the Lord rests on the great price that Christ has paid for you. Now, men, the world will try and tell you that your value is dependent upon the amount of money you earn in a year, or the car that you drive, or maybe the technological toys that you own, but you have a value far beyond that, one that the world knows nothing of, one that a price tag can't be put on. And ladies, the world will tell you that your value rests upon physical attractiveness, what you look like, your beauty. In fact, last night was Halloween, and I guarantee you that there was a lot of young girls walking around dressed as princesses, even from a very young age, being taught that their value rests upon being beautiful. But, dear sisters, you have a beauty that the world does not know of a beauty that comes from virtue of your Savior. Because Christ has purchased you. And he is in the business of making his bride beautiful. All of us together as brothers and sisters are being built up by our king, by the head of our church. In order to be the bride which he has paid for. And which he will receive Because he will be satisfied. Christ will be satisfied with what he is paid for. Because as a king who has all dominion and power and authority, no one can prevent him from taking that which he has claimed for his own. We read earlier in Revelation 19 of this great wedding feast of the lamb that is to take place. And we know that the promise there is true, because it is a promise which comes from none other but God Himself. And Christ has been promised a bride. But be warned, because He has also been promised a footstool. Christ as King will also execute wrath on His enemies. Do not be an enemy of Christ. Do not be an enemy to the King. Make peace with Christ by trusting in the price which He paid to cover your sins. Abner, though he may have been misguided, sought to make peace with King David by coming to him under the terms which David set. You must come to King Jesus only under the terms which He has set and know that by His grace, you will be part of that bride, that beautiful, glorious bride, which is being prepared for King Jesus. And there will be this great wedding, which we read about. And the joy of the event will be so great. It's said that the shouts sound like roaring waters. Have you been to Niagara Falls and stood so nearby that you can't even whisper or talk at a normal volume to the person right next to you because the volume is so great? And that gives you an idea of the excitement and the rejoicing which will take place in heaven at this great and glorious day in which we, as the bride, will be presented to our husband, our head and our King, Jesus. What did the passage in Revelation 19 end with? In verse 9, it said, Then the angel said to me, Write, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Brothers and sisters, you are blessed because not only are you invited to this wedding supper, but you have a key role to play in it because you will be presented to Christ. And though at this day he may seem far away, though we have heartache, though we have struggles, we have pain and tears, we know that this day will come and that no matter what struggles are put in your way, because Christ is the King, they will not prevent you from being at that wedding supper. Because Christ has paid a price for you. And you are forever his. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father. We do thank you for. For the love that you have shown us and the mercy which you have shown us through Christ Jesus. Though we were undeserving. Though we were far from beautiful and appealing and valuable. Lord, your son paid a great price for us and Lord, we pray that. We would respond so much joy and love to that sacrifice and know that we are dependent on his grace, without which we have no hope in this world. So, Lord, we pray that you would strengthen our faith. We might always look to Christ and eagerly await this wedding supper, which will indeed take place. And Lord, that that may motivate us to serve you joyfully through all the days you would give us here on Earth. It's in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior and the husband of our church, we pray. Amen.